~ My thoughts in my words

Monthly Archives: April 2010

IPOs seem to be back in action. The recent fancy in IPOs could be due to the overheated secondary markets, and the recent SEBI directive to list stocks in 12 days after closure of the issue. What this means, is that speculators will dump the stocks on the very first day of listing, and so we can expect the prices to fall in the subsequent few days.
Didn’t this happen before the market crashed? Are we heading towards an era of lower liquidity? The finance minister seems to have this in mind.

The brouhaha over Sania Shoaib does not seem to die with their tying the nuptial knot. There are numerous things associated with being a superstar. The news article on outlook is an example of how sentimental and illogical people can get in their devotion towards a celebrity.

It is no secret that people name their offspring with the names of celebrities, so that they are easily identified (and gets glamour, as the article mentions).

Based on this logic, people sharing their names with filmstars should keep changing theirs, depending on the box office collections!

In a not so surprising turn of events, a number of my colleagues could not reach office on time. The reason, as I found out later was that a major road blockage on EM Bypass caused the unnecessary harassment of the commuters. As the cause unveiled, it was shocking and sobering at the same time. An accident between two trucks caused major causalities, and it appears that a major hospital had refused to admit the victims, flaring a wave of destruction and carnage.

I don’t believe that a hospital could refuse to admit accident victims, as it is mandated by law, and the age old law requiring police intervention is now scrapped. Any hospital intending to do business in India needs to take care of such casualties, even if they choose to ignore the ethics angle. That apart, there was serious vandalism in the form of breaking whatever came in the way of the people who targeted the hospital infrastructure, staff and even resorted to destroying vehicles on the road. Who are these maniacs? Badly sick bandits who are frustrated by the current scheme of events? They are definitely not relatives of the victims, for their focus would have been to get medical care, rather than break the system that can heal the affected. Interestingly, there has been no comment from the hospital in this regard; is it the fear of the locals or lack of trust in the administration and judiciary?

Talking about judiciary, I came across another event that shows the mockery of the enforcement of law. Kangaroo courts, locally known as khap panchayats of Haryana have claimed that they have no regard for the Indian constitution, and that they would do whatever pleases them, and hence they have the right to serve justice the way they want. It appears that these have asked for an amendment in the constitution regarding some marriage laws. Are they trying to extend their arms?

One thing is common in both the cases: the people have taken the law in their hands, and with utter disregard of the constitution. Democracy does not allow people to make their own laws and implement them. Yet as it turns out, there are people who have no faith in the existing system and know that whatever they do, they would come out unscathed. Because in india, if one has enough monetary and political power, the judiciary does nothing.

It won’t be long before the ‘jungle law’ will prevail in this country. We already have a Maoist empire within.

We have seen umpteen reality shows on TV, but nothing beats the profanity of EA. If you suspect your partner’s loyalty, you can ask bindaas TV to entice them to do something that would expose them to the entire world, while you sit back and sob at your lost love and have a flurry of questions hurled at you of the ‘how do you feel’ nature.

I have watched glimpses of EA with different stories, but I haven’t ever seen the subject (mostly the guy) come out unscathed. Does that mean that one approaches Bindaas to feel dejected? Isnt there any so called ‘loyal’ partner? But a loyal partner will not generate the interest that an infidel would.

I feel that EA is possibly used by the suspecting partner to showcase herself on TV for free, while playing the victim card either to generate interest in the prospectives or to get a kick upon being a face on TV.

That takes me to the so called soaps on popular television, which are the true embodiments of emotional atyachar. Given the already existing surreal story line, it would be interesting to merge an EA concept in the soap.

EA seems to have risen the popularity charts. So guys beware! Your partner could be getting at you via EA.

On my way back to office, I was wondering how important packages are in our life. In fact, the choices we make are basically sets with little elements. Let’s take an example of the simple thing as the toothpaste. In the process of buying the toothpaste, we accept the size and shape, the quantity, the quality (real or perceived), how people will perceive if they see us using it and a lot of things which I have decided not to imagine now.

And so marketers go a long way in managing this perception, often with better and glorified packaging. So we see companies rebranding themselves; new product launches that are basically old wine in new bottles.

Every individual is a package, lets make the best use of these blocks to build a better life!!

I have been reminded (or rather, chided) by my wife for not using the horn when driving. “How will the person ahead of you know of your presence?”, she would say, and I would then try to press the button at the slightest pretext. Quite a game, I would think. But I need to master it, to drive in the city of Kolkata.

Recently, I found an interesting article based on a survey of the decibel levels in various parts of the city, and it portrayed the experience of traveling in an amby taxi for 20 km. it did not surprise me that the horn was used 576 times in the stretch.

And why shouldn’t that be? We have grown up in a country where honking is encouraged, with interesting messages like “horn please” adorning the backs of commercial vehicles. And the trend has taken so much that not only trucks, but taxis and autos have taken to the encouraging message. It even causes a sense of despair for the driver if the horn doesn’t work. But we have seen it so many trucks mentioning in so succinct words “Horn OK please”. I was often left to wonder whats OK got to do with the sincere request. A wikipedia search gave way: OK stands for “on kerosene”, which served as a caution during world war II, when there was a greater risk of inferno because of the fuel used in trucks. But it has ceased to have any significance today, and yet is being blindly used without understanding its relevance (like many rules in India)

There are many different kinds of horns in use today. But the ones causing greatest cacophony are the ones available in accessory shops and heavily used in sumos and bikes. The uninitiated would easily mistake it for a Z security in a convoy of a hot shot. The ones on the two wheelers have an uncontrollable urge to show the world that they have a bike, and so everyone must be impressed with them, for they have a bike that makes everyone’s heads turn (even if in irritation).

Our country has utter disregard for the rules, and hence you can easily see “no horn” signs outside hospitals and schools being ignored conveniently.

I hate such noise, it badly affects my concentration. So I prefer closing the windows of my car and putting on the AC, at least I don’t have to put up with such irritating noise makers on the road.